ISBT 2018 Scholarship Recipients

The International Society of Beverage Technologist is pleased to announce the Scholarship winners for 2019.

Jacalyn Barry, Clemson

Jacalyn Berry is a senior and 3-time ISBT Scholarship recipient.

I am very thankful for ISBT's continued support in my education. Thank you for reaching out and thinking of me. I have provided a little update below; please let me know if this is okay or if you need any more information. Thank you again for your support and consideration.

I would like to start off with thanking you for the ISBT scholarship in 2016 and 2017, as well as, the opportunity to apply for the 2018-2019 academic year. I was able to use the scholarship to continue my education and expand my knowledge of the packaging industry. I have had the opportunity to be involved in hands on laboratory testing of materials, represent Clemson at PackExpo, and join different Creative Inquiries on campus. I am now a senior at Clemson University studying Packaging Science. I just finished a internship with Plastic Omnium in Anderson, SC. I was able to gain greater knowledge of the manufacturing side of the plastics business and better understand where I want my focus to be going forward. I am interested in continuing my relationship with ISBT in reference to the upcoming 2018 Fall semester. I plan to graduate in May 2019 where I hope to pursue a career in plastics. Your support for my career and education is greatly appreciated. I am available for further discussion or questions if needed.

Alyssa Daly, Michigan State University

Alyssa Daly is a senior in the School of Packaging.

Packaging is something that I grew up hearing a little about, but I didn't think it was the right field for me at the time. I loved science and math courses in high school and had great interest in environmental issues which stemmed from growing up in Northern Michigan. I thought that engineering was the route I would take in college, but I wasn't sure I would enjoy it as a career. My uncle is in the Packaging field and my parents knew how much he loved it, so they convinced me to take the Packaging 101 course my freshman year of college. After the first few classes I knew that Packaging was the field for me. I would call my parents and talk to them about all the cool things I learned, and I would explore the grocery store with my newfound knowledge. Packaging is a mix of the best aspects of different science, engineering, and business fields and the variety is one of the reasons why I love it.

Last year during my junior year I had two 6-month co-ops. July-December 2017 I was with PepsiCo in Chicago working with their Fruit and Vegetable Beverage Packaging team. January-July 2018 I was with Abbott Nutrition in Columbus, OH with their Packaging Innovation team. I loved both of these experiences and learned so much about packaging and the business world that class time alone can't teach. I worked with mainly beverage packaging for both of my co-ops. Before my co-ops I'd never been to a manufacturing facility, and I enjoyed seeing the machines and packages that we'd discuss in class.

After my two co-ops I believe I want to stay in the food and beverage industry and work with beverage products. I found it fascinating to see hot-fill, cold-fill, aseptic, and retort facilities and understand how the product dictates the process and packaging. During my co-ops I saw a few different production facilities that make the same product but under two different processes. I learned about the benefits of each and the product formulation differences that are needed depending on the filling/sterilization process. I created an information diagram about PET and HDPE bottles with 1, 2, or 3 step closure systems and their barrier properties that could be used to decide what type of manufacturing plant would be best for the future. Before then I didn't think of all the challenges of shipping the preforms or blown bottles to production facilities or the challenges of blowing your own bottles.

Beverage packaging is full of nuances and there is so much to learn about different processes and materials that continue to evolve. I am excited to graduate in May and start my career in the beverage industry.

Manoj Sawale, Purdue Univeristy

Manoj Sawale is a Ph.D. student in Food Science at Purdue University. He is working under the guidance of Dr. Dharmendra Mishra on microbial inactivation kinetics during aseptic thermal processing and validation of aseptic fillers. His goal is to estimate the inactivation parameters (D and z values) for surrogate microorganisms with a TP-cell (Thermal Properties measurement instrument) and impact of vapor hydrogen peroxide sterilization on aseptic food and beverage packaging containers and aseptic fillers. He will also be working on novel rapid detection methods for surrogate microorganisms that can be used for validation of processes.

In 2008 Manoj completed his Master of Science in biotechnology from Bangalore University India. He has 7+ years of work experience with ONGC-TERI Biotech Ltd India. He has served as Petroleum Microbiologist where he worked with anaerobic and aerobic fermentation for large scale production of bacterial strains using appropriate GMP and GLP. In OTBL, he worked on three different technologies; MEOR (Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery), PDB (Paraffin Degrading Bacteria), and Bioremediation of oily sludge. He has served as a lab manager and was responsible for overall operation for tertiary oil recovery in the Gujarat region. He has submitted two genome sequence of thermoanerobacterium sp in NCBI. He interned at Haffkine biopharmaceutical Ltd., Mumbai where he obtained brief exposure on aseptic vaccine production and process validation. In 2018, he joined Purdue University's Department of Food Science as a Graduate student.

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